Original Tracks

May 30th 2014
140 soundtrack live performance in Copenhagen
https://www.facebook.com/events/317451808404766/

140 @ All the Rave

Created for 8k demo by Loopit & Loonies - 2nd prize in 64k category at TRSAC 2015.
Made in Renoise with Clinkster (Blueberry).

psyltcipher

Performed November 2015 at Science and Cocktails in Copenhagen (vimeo.com/141845796).

This started out as an experiment in developing new spectral transformations between pairs of sounds. One of the ideas was to Fourier transform loops of equal length, and slowly morph amplitude and phase independently. This yielded interesting results on selected pairs of sounds, but was completely useless on others. The whole thing was eventually discarded and replaced with a transformation that sounded interesting for almost all input: convolving loops with themselves. This self-convolution can be intuitively be described as multiplying every frequency component of a sound with itself, or 'squaring' the sound.

The approach was then: selected loops were resampled to have the same length, convolved with themselves, resulting in weird 'smeared' sounds. Human voices were vaguely recognizable as human, melodies were removed. Rhythms would generate new rhythms. Production quality and sound would be largely retained, which suggested picking loops from the same time period and genre to give a consistent sound.

The generated loops were mixed in Ableton Live.

Here is a list of loop sources - period and genre should be fairly obvious:

John Farnham: You're the Voice
Vangelis: Blade Runner - Main Titles
Tangerine Dream: 21st Century Common Man
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Lunar Bay
Michael Jackson: Thriller
Jean-Michel Jarre: Arpegiateur
Michael Jackson: Baby be Mine
Yes: Leave It
Kenny Loggins: Playing with the Boys
Michael Jackson: Pretty Young Thing
Michael Jackson: Don't Stop Till You Get Enough
Vangelis: Soil Festivities
Tears for Fears: Shout
Tangerine Dream: Force Majeure
Jean-Michel Jarre: Ethnicolor
Yes: Changes
Jan Hammer: Payback
Tears for Fears: Mothers Talk
Kitaro: Tenchi Souzoushin
Jan Hammer: Colombia
Michael Jackson: Thriller
Toto: Africa
Yes: Owner of a Lonely Heart


SciCock SelfConvolution

This is a longer example render of 'modnet', an experimental FM synthesizer I wrote for a performance with visual artists Sune Petersen and Max Hattler at 'Science Friction' in Copenhagen, May 28th, 2013.

The synthesizer is an experiment in algorithm-generated FM patches, and slow metamorphosis between pairs of such patches.

I also ended up using modnet for certain parts of the '140' soundtrack.

Videos from the performance:

https://youtu.be/_kDJN2CVfV0
https://vimeo.com/album/1639402/video/67928081

modnet01

This is a short example render of 'modnet', an experimental FM synthesizer I wrote for a performance with visual artists Sune Petersen and Max Hattler at 'Science Friction' in Copenhagen, May 28th, 2013.

The synthesizer is an experiment in algorithm-generated FM patches, and slow metamorphosis between pairs of such patches.

I also ended up using modnet for certain parts of the '140' soundtrack.

Videos from the performance:

https://youtu.be/_kDJN2CVfV0
https://vimeo.com/album/1639402/video/67928081

modnet02

Composed and produced by Jakob Schmid for the video game '140', go to www.carlsengames.com for more information.

Vinyl soundtrack can be ordered from iam8bit:
US store: store.iam8bit.com/products/140-vinyl-soundtrack
UK store: store.iam8bit.co.uk/products/140-vinyl-soundtrack
Digital soundtrack for '140' available now:
Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/662290/140_Soundtrack/
GOG.com: www.gog.com/game/140_soundtrack
Bandcamp: schmid.bandcamp.com/album/140-soundtrack
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/2onxxERQd4awdwOofi9bQn
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/album/140/id1258317518
Amazon: www.amazon.com/140-Schmid/dp/B07QCQ1DD6/
Artist links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jakobschmid
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2onxxERQd4awdwOofi9bQn
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JakobSchmid
Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/jakob-schmid/

  
Created with Ableton Live, Modnet, Korg M1 software synthesizer

The game '140' was created by Jeppe Carlsen, Jakob Schmid, Niels Fyrst, Andreas Arnild Peitersen

Thanks to: Martin Stig Andersen, Peter Buchardt, Mikkel Svendsen, Mikkel Gjøl, SØS Gunver Ryberg, Cristian Vogel, Greg Rice, Jon M. Gibson, Amanda White, Christian Villum

The game '140' is (C) Carlsen Games.

The '140' soundtrack by Jakob Schmid is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

0x8c

The in-game soundtrack for 'Lost Empire: Immortals' consisted of pre-produced music elements randomly mixed together by an algorithm.

Each element had some metadata that specified which frequency bands they occupied, and whether they had rhythmical structure or not. When a set of elements were playing, the algorithm would try to mix new elements in, but only if they occupied a set of frequency bands that weren't already occupied. Also, only one element with rhythm could play at once, avoiding the problem of sample accurate playback altogether.

This was a simple and effective solution that worked perfectly for the kind of spacy music I composed for the game, making sure that the music would never be the same in two games.

'Lost Empire: Immortals' is a 4X space game developed by Pollux Gamelabs and released in 2008 by Paradox Interactive.

Lost Empire: Immortals - In-game Music Example

Music for the 'Gameplay' trailer for 'Lost Empire: Immortals', a 4X space game developed by Pollux Gamelabs and released in 2008 by Paradox Interactive.

Lost Empire: Immortals - Gameplay Trailer

Music for the 'Story' trailer for 'Lost Empire: Immortals', a 4X space game developed by Pollux Gamelabs and released in 2008 by Paradox Interactive.

Lost Empire: Immortals - Story Trailer

The title theme for 'Lost Empire: Immortals', a 4X space game developed by Pollux Gamelabs and released in 2008 by Paradox Interactive.

Lost Empire: Immortals - Main Theme

In early 2006 I was working on a bunch of drum 'n bass tracks, which I published as the 'Mindsurgery' EP (buy here: https://schmid.bandcamp.com/album/mindsurgery-13). 'Definition' is one of my favourites, an experiment in form, carefully replicating the form of a certain mid-90s drum 'n bass track.

The track was created in Ableton Live 5. It's incredibly simple, only 9 tracks. 

All plugins used were freeware. The beautiful arpeggio synth that appears at 2:12 is the EZPoly VST synth by Krakli Software playing the preset 'SEQ Lothlorien TC' by the late Tim Conrardy.

Other plugins used:

Etiquiet2 (Krakli)  - hi-pitch string synth from intro
Chill (Krakli) - snarling bass from 0:12
Shortcircuit (Vember Audio) - sampler used for breakbeat
C3 Multi Band Compressor (slim slow slider)
Voxengo SPAN - Spectrum analyzer

The track contains samples from:

Jimmy McGriff: The Worm [1968] - break
James Brown: Hot Pants [1971] - tambourine
Van Helsing [2004] - screams and ambience
Ghost in the Shell [1995] - servo sound
Pac-Man
FSOL: Egypt
DJ Shadow / DJ Krush: '89.9 Megamix' (Incorrectly titled 'Hermit Kid'?)
Tricky: My Evil Is Strong

This is the original 160 BPM version of the track. I released a 170 BPM version to conform with the rest of the tracks on the Mindsurgery EP.

Track info: Definition 160 BPM version remastered 2019-10-16 (48KHz 24bit)

Mindsurgery

Definition

Al-Qahira Sound

Alive

Spinal Chords

An older track from 2006. I still think it has some neat ideas... :)

Used Abyss Andante

This track was created for the demo 'min' by Loopit, ranked 3rd in the PC Demo compo in NVScene 2014.

The demo can be seen here:
- https://vimeo.com/90214680
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X61MOZoqFB4

Or you can run it yourself:
- https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=62851

The track was created in Ableton Live 9 with no additional plugins.
It contains samples from:

- Ryu Umemoto: Angels' Melancholy [2010] (Deathsmiles Arrange) - rave chords
- Vangelis: Tales of the Future [1982/1994] - mysterious strings
- John Carpenter: The Fog [1980] - "Midnight"

Track info: demotrack-2014-03-24e.wav (48KHz 16bit)

Copenhagen-based electronic music composer Jakob Schmid combines the harmonies and aesthetics of 70s and 80s new age music with deep basslines and beats of contemporary UK electronic music. The result is both melancholic and energetic.

Schmid has decades of experience in computer music, starting with using tracker software in the 80s, progressing towards creating his own experimental music software, including new types of synthesizers.

Schmid composed the music for multi-award-winning rhythm video game '140', a journey into a world of abstract shapes and beautiful harmonies, accompanied by pulsing beats at 140 BPM.